pictorial: HOME ALONE feat. RICHARD LIMA @ FORD NYC

model: Richard Lima - @richardlima1

ph. Tarrice Love - @bytarricelove

styling: Rick ??

grooming Andrea Wilson - @andreaewilson

Amongst the things i do with this blog is take ppl behind the scenes as well as inside my mind  to understand how I create my images.

This particular photoshoot started with a phone call from model Richard Lima @ Ford models asking me to shoot this idea of him hanging out in the bachelor pad of his friend Rick. They wanted to capture Richard like he was chilling at home alone. I have worked with Richard a few times before and we hit it off great and I met Rick before to discuss the possibility of us collaborating on a project and we hit it off as well. 

Richard suggested that this would be a great opportunity for me to work with Rick and an amazing wardrobe stylist and hair and makeup they felt I should be collaborating with. I was excited about working with these people. They all are very talented and this could definitely bring something new to my work. In the past, I haven't had the best experiences with wardrobe, makeup, and hair people. I was hoping this was my opportunity to finally start collaborating with other artistic talents so I could take this photography thing to the next level.

 I packed my camera and lighting equipment and got on the train from Brooklyn and headed to Manhattan in the freezing cold. I don't like traveling at night because I'm legally blind and I can't see very well but this was a great opportunity and I wasn't going to let my visual impairment prevent me from working with some amazing new people.

I arrived and instantly realized the apartment was much smaller than it appeared in the reference pictures that Rick had emailed me but it was nice....colorfully decorated and interesting. I immediately started trying to figure out how I was going to photograph Richard casually relaxing in this very small apartment. The hair/ makeup artist arrived  and I almost died. It was Andrea E Wilson. She is amazing and has worked with all my favorite supermodels including Veronica Webb. She was hella cool and funny. She was as anxious to get started as I was. She asked me what did I wanted her to do Richard's salt and pepper gray hair. I really had no idea what to do with his hair but I told her the scenario for the shoot  and  left it open for her to use her judgement. She took him in the bathroom  and when they came came out he looked amazing. I don't know what she had done to him but he looked much better than he had  before she worked her magic. 

The wardrobe stylist had arrived. He saw Richard's hair and didn't like it. He wanted to do something different from the way Richard always looked and told Andrea he want his hair to be slicked down, with a part on the side, and a swirly swoop-thing in the front... in a nerd chic kind of way. She explained to him that Richard has very thick, curly hair and she was going to have to straighten his hair and put lots of product in it to make it do all of that ... but she could do it. He told her to do it. I was sitting there lost and confused and trying to understand the direction the stylist wanted to go with this shoot. This un-naturally, nerdy idea on a mature, manly Spanish guy wasn't registering in my mind. I decided not to say anything and remain open minded and allow for the magic to happen.

She must have channeled her wonder woman skills because they came out of the  bathroom and Richard was standing their with the hair the stylist had requested. The buzzer rang. The door opened and their was rising supermodel Jourdan Dunn. She came to the shoot to meet up Andrea. Andrea was going to do something to her hair for some event. Now I am really nervous. Jourdan is one of my favorite models. I even have her Vogue Italia cover  - still wrapped in plastic. She sat in chair out of the way  while we prepared to shoot. Richard put on his first look  and before we got started the stylist wanted to smoke a cigarette. He went outside. While we were waiting for him to return Richards hair started to resist the style....he has ethnic hair  and unless its chemically altered, it will "fight back". Andrea was fixing his hair and looked up and asked me did I like the hair. Without thinking, I said what was honstly on my mind. "I hate it. He looks rediculous." She smiled and asked me what did I want. I told her  I liked it the way she had done it at first. She rubbed her fingers through it and started to fix it back like it was. The stylist walked through the door and looked at Richard and asked what was going on. Andrea told him that the photographer didn't  like the hair so she was changing it back. He was obviously pissed. He made it very clear that he didn't want Richard's hair to be styled  in its natural state. He started putting on his coat  and said that since I wasn't feeling his ideas he was going to leave. I told him I was fine with whatever kind of hair and she could fix it back in the swirly swoop thing. I didn't want him to leave. I wanted everyone to be happy but that wasn't going to happen. It was too late - he was mad. He touched Richard on the shoulder and told him " we'll talk later. I'll find another photographer who appreciates my vision." He left.

I wanted to die. Andrea, Richard, Rick, and  Jourdan were looking at me. I was embarrassed. Andrea explained to me that within her 20 years in the business the photographer has the final word that its ultimately his show and that I should get it together and tell them what to do. Truthfully  i wanted to pack my shit and run out of their. I was feeling like like crap and doubting myself. Why does this keep happening to me. Why can't I seem to get along with people in this business, especially stylist?  I committed to doing this project so I shook it off, got myself together Andrea fixed his hair and I told Rick that he was now the stylist and he put the looks together and we finished the shoot. Like my momma always say, "One monkey don't stop the show..."

model: Richard Lima - @richardlima1

ph. Tarrice Love - @bytarricelove

styling: Rick ??

grooming Andrea Wilson - @andreaewilson

After I went home, I realized that this wasn't about me. I didn't do anything wrong. What people haveta understand is collaboration comes with disagreements until agreements are made. It clearly wasn't a collaboration on the stylist part. As soon as his idea was challenged he got mad and quit.  It was like a child being mad because the other kids don't wanna play like he wanna play. I was disappointed that the stylist walked out - especially since he never really tried to bring all of us on his page and understand the direction he wanted to go with this shoot. This isn't the first time this has happened and I am sure it won't be the last. This was a failed networking opportunity but it really wasn't. If he is the type of person to storm out on a photoshoot the minute his ideas are challenged, then this was the wrong type of person for me to be collaborating with in the first place. It was a good thing that this happened now and not later on a major shoot.

People tell me all the time I should be more compromising . I think I am compromising  but when it starts to feel like surrendering, I have a problem with that. I refuse to be treated like a "nigga with a camera." I am an artist first....with opinions and Ideas. I come to the table open for suggestions and leave room for others to express their ideas. Andrea was right, it is my show. As the photographer , it is my job to make sure the finish product is a success. The photographer takes all the blame when things go wrong. If I  don't understand something its impossible for me to capture it at its best.

Overall I am happy with the images from this shoot  and thought I would share my experience so my viewers can understand why don't have a team yet.